ALLCITY NFL Power Rankings: How do all 14 playoff teams rate as the wild card round begins?

After 18 weeks, we’ve finally made it to the postseason.

The race for the next Super Bowl champion feels wide open. 

Five of the six games in last year’s wild card round were decided by double-digits, but this year feels completely different, with only one wild card game having a spread greater than 4.5.

We’ll circle back and rank/tier the entire league again once the postseason is over and the coaching carousel dies down, but for now, we’re only looking at the 14 playoff teams this week:

Super Bowl contenders: These are the teams that appear to have a legitimate chance to make it to Santa Clara.

1. Seattle Seahawks (1) – The Seahawks have earned the right to be No. 1 going into the  postseason, even if it seems insane to have a Sam Darnold-led squad at the top. Seattle’s defense is elite, and Darnold found ways to win two big divisional games down the stretch, even if he wasn’t perfect. 
   
2. New England Patriots (2) – The Patriots are still an overachieving team that played an easy schedule, but Drake Maye will give this team a chance to beat any opponent they face in the playoffs. The easy schedule thing is a little misleading too, because Maye still faced his fair share of good defenses and performed well. 
   
3. Denver Broncos (4) – The Broncos did well to secure the No. 1 seed and give themselves two home games to reach the Super Bowl. With a really good defense, it would be very disappointing if they didn’t at least reach the AFC Championship Game.
    
4. Los Angeles Rams (5) – Will the Rams be able to turn it back on in the playoffs or did they peak in November? Finishing the season 3-3 with losses to the Panthers and Falcons wasn’t exactly inspiring, especially when you consider their only quality win in that stretch was against the Lions at home. In fact, their last win against a playoff team was back on Nov. 16 when they beat the Seahawks at home.
    
5. Buffalo Bills (6) – This feels like the most important month in Sean McDermott’s nine years as Buffalo Bills head coach. With Mahomes, Burrow and Jackson sitting at home, it would be very disappointing if the Bills didn’t make it to the Super Bowl. They certainly have the quarterback and the elite running game to get it done. And even though the season has been shaky at times, the Bills still won 12 games.
    
6. Jacksonville Jaguars (8) – And yet, the Bills have a really tough road to Santa Clara, starting with a road game in Jacksonville against a Jaguars team that is still being slept on. Early in the season the Jaguars had one of the better defenses in the league and were piling up takeaways. As that slipped, Trevor Lawrence kept getting better and better. Now it looks like it’s all coming together for Liam Coen, whose team has won eight games in a row. 
   
7. San Francisco 49ers (3) – Despite last week’s dud against Seattle, the 49ers are still very dangerous on offense and are one of the best coached teams in the playoffs. The matchup against the Eagles isn’t a bad one either. I think the 49ers can score on Philadelphia and the Eagles’ in-game offensive slumps might help a depleted San Francisco defense that held the Seahawks to 16 points last week.  
   
8. Philadelphia Eagles (9) – Nick Sirianni did the right thing to rest his starters in Week 18, but the offense better put it together for four quarters or Philadelphia will be one and done. This team has been secretly trending in the right direction for the last month, but the second-half goose egg in Buffalo two weeks ago still has me worried about how consistent the offense will be in the playoffs. 

More to prove: These teams can’t be ruled out, but it’s going to take a heck of a run to win four straight games in the playoffs.

9. Chicago Bears (7) – Caleb Williams is always going to give the Bears a chance in the fourth quarter, but this team has been playing with fire all season. They need to get off to better starts and play complementary football in the playoffs if they are going to have a chance. Recently, the defense has been on the field way too much and the run game has slumped. 
   
10. Houston Texans (10) – C.J. Stroud has been much better this season and the defense is going to keep the Texans in any game. That said, the offense ranks No. 23 in EPA/play, according to SumerSports, and it just feels like Houston will struggle to keep up against some of the better offenses in the AFC. 
    
11. Green Bay Packers (11) – The Packers are limping into the playoffs on a four-game losing streak, but at least they got to rest their starters in Week 18. Matt LaFleur is under a lot of pressure not to lose to the Bears Saturday and it will be really interesting to see how his team plays with that chatter going on. Jordan Love could really use a deep run in the playoffs, but that seems like a stretch given all the injuries on the defensive side of the ball.
     
12. Los Angeles Chargers (12) – If Jim Harbaugh wasn’t the head coach, I’d probably say this team is fatally flawed, but his track record will give the Chargers a chance. Still, it is hard to envision the Chargers making a run with the state of their offensive line. Justin Herbert threw four interceptions in their playoff game in Houston last year, so he’ll be looking for a much better performance this time around. 

Fatally Flawed: These teams are terribly flawed in at least one crucial area that will keep them from making a realistic Super Bowl run. 

13. Pittsburgh Steelers (14) – The Steelers have been downright painful to watch in stretches this season, but Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers know how to win football games, so here they are. It wouldn’t shock me if Pittsburgh beat the Texans at home, but they just don’t have enough firepower, and the defense is too inconsistent to win more than two games in a row. 
14. Carolina Panthers (15) – The Panthers already beat the Rams once this season, but it will take everything they have to do it again. Most importantly it will take zero turnovers, and that’s where it’s hard to trust Bryce Young. I think the Panthers will play the Rams close and cover the 10.5 point spread, but come up short on the win. 

Adam Hoge is the ALLCITY NFL Analyst and covers the Chicago Bears for CHGO. You can email him at hoge@allchgo.com and follow him on X @adamhoge.